Broncos could be poised to roll

Posted by Mike Florio on September 7, 2013, 10:10 PM EDT

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Last year, the Broncos started 1-2 then 2-3 before finding their groove, winning 11 games in a row by eight or more points each.

This year, the Broncos have exploded out of the gates, scoring more points against the Ravens than anyone ever has, with quarterback Peyton Manning firing seven touchdown passes after lightning delayed the start of the game and disrupted Manning’s routine.

The 2013 schedule doesn’t feature any other defending Super Bowl champions. Though Denver starts the year by facing the last two (next up is a trip to New York to face the Giants), the schedule gets soft — with two games each against the Raiders, Chiefs, and Chargers, along with contests against the Jaguars and Titans. It’s a point Erik Kuselias made on Friday’s edition of Pro Football Talk; with a great start and a relatively soft schedule, the Broncos could be on their way to the No. 1 seed, again.

Sure, the Broncos have to face the rest of the AFC South and the rest of the NFC East. Based on the way they looked on Thursday night, however, another 13-3 finish is realistic.

The question then becomes whether the Broncos can keep it going in January. They didn’t last year, obviously. With a career postseason record of 9-11 and eight one-and-done performances in the playoffs, Manning’s legacy will be advanced not by what he does over the next 15 games but what he does over the next three.

Is it even comical anymore? Nearly every year we see a Peyton Manning-led team start out 13-0, with the experts all but handing him the Lombardi in December. And, yet, every year we see the man choke in the playoffs. At what point do people start noticing a pattern. Give me his brother, Roethlisberger or Flacco–all viewed as lesser species–in the playoffs any day than “the greatest quarterback in NFL history.”

And then the playoffs will start and Peyton will crap the bed again. No way a QB with a losing playoff record and an even worse cold weather playoff record, goes on to win a couple games in Denver/Boston/Pittsburg etc and then also a super bowl in New York.

Brady has played for better teams. he threw 3 picks in a championship game and 152 yards in a superbowl but it was all him. Brady and manning have near identical playoff stats. one also has the best coach of a generation.

The peyton hate is absurd. He threw more touchdowns against the ravens in the playoffs than brady, luck, and kaepenick combined…yet he’s the only qb who choked last year apparently. Apparently rahim Moore not making a simple play somehow means peyton can’t play in the cold. So stupid.